BBC sitcom star admits it was ‘weird’ marrying her on-screen grandson in rare relationship comment

BBC sitcom star Dame Meera Syal admitted it was “weird” marrying her on-screen grandson on the popular show The Kumars At No. 42. The comedy actress, 65, played Sushil ‘Ummi’ Kumar in the show, alongside her real life husband Sanjeev Bhaskar, 62, who played chat show host grandson Sanjeev. Meera Syal admitted it felt ‘weird’ marrying her on-screen grandson in real life Credit: BBC Meera and Sanjeev Bhaskar tied the knot in 2005 Credit: Getty – Pool Meera and Sanjeev married in 2005 and share a son, who was born in 2005. Meera also has an older daughter from a previous marriage. Speaking on the Dish Podcast, Meera said: “I mean, it was a bit weird that the man I would go on to marry was playing my grandson. Sign up for the TV newsletter Thank you! “But that’s acting, isn’t it? That’s acting.” She also told hosts Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett about how she felt being cast a a grandmother at just age 40. The couple starred in The Kumars at No 42 Credit: BBC They also appeared in Goodness Gracious Me from 1996 to 2001 Credit: Alamy “Well, I got cast, basically, in a nutshell, because the character needed a lot of improvisational skills,” Meera said. The Kumars At No.42 was about a fictional British Indian family, including Madhuri and Ashwin Kumar (played by Indira Joshi and Vincent Ebrahim), their adult son Sanjeev (played by Sanjeev), and Sushila, Sanjeev’s grandmother, normally referred to as Ummi, played by Meera. The family lived in Wembley and the show’s central premise was that Sanjeev’s parents supported his dream of being a television presenter by having a TV studio built on what used to be their back garden. Running gags included Sanjeev’s apparent social ineptitude, Ashwin’s obsession with financial matters and his tendency to tell long stories with no real point, and Ummi’s stories of her absurd exploits with her childhood friend Saraswati the bicycle (so named because of her contortionist skills). Most read in Showbiz The show was so popular that it even saw the cast doing a Comic Relief single Spirit In the Sky with Gareth Gates. The Kumars At No. 42 ran from 2001 to 2006, but before this the pair also starred in Goodness Gracious Me from 1996 to 2001. Sanjeev played one of the main characters in the comedy sketch show – which originally aired on BBC Radio 4 from 1996 to 1998 and later televised on BBC Two from 1998 to 2001. Sanjeev was joined by fellow cast members Kulvinder Ghir, Nina Wadia and Meera. The show explored the conflict and integration between traditional Indian culture and modern British life. Some sketches reversed the roles to view the British from an Indian perspective, and others poked fun at Indian stereotypes. Goodness Gracious Me won Best Entertainment at the Broadcasting Press Guild Award and the Team Award from the Royal Television Society, UK in 1999. Comment now